To answer what is a critical event for higher incidence of tumor development in old than young individuals, primary culture of human diploid fibroblasts were employed and DNA damage was induced by doxorubicin or X-ray irradiation. Response to the damage was different between young and old cells: loss of p21(sdi1) expression in spite of p53(s1)5 activation in old cells along with [H-3]thymidine and BrdU incorporation, but not in young cells. The phenomenon was confirmed by other tissue fibroblasts obtained from different donor ages. Induction of miR-93 expression and reduced p53 binding to p21 gene promoter account for loss of p21(sdi1) expression in senescent cells after DNA damage, suggesting a mechanism of in vivo carcinogenesis in aged tissue without repair arrest. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.